I thank the Deputy for a comprehensive question on St. Luke's in Kilkenny. It is a hospital I know well and have been in many times. I note a number of works have been carried out there, from a capital point of view, including the extension to radiology, the provision of a new MRI, which was completed in 2022, and the new 72-bed replacement medical ward block. I am told the replacement of the existing CT scanner was completed in 2024. An acute inpatient bed capacity expansion plan is due to be completed this year. …

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and for the engagement he had with the childcare sector this week. This is certainly something we intend to examine as a Government. We all know in this House that there is huge demand for childcare places. We need to support our childminders and help them to remain viable and in the sector, not making life harder for them. I am aware that there are legal issues to be worked out and there is also the matter of the Valuation Act, but the Minister for children, Deputy Foley, …

I thank the Deputy for raising this. My sympathy to his constituent on all she has been through and for her loss. If he wants to send the details to the Minister for Health, I will ask her to engage directly with the HSE on it. As he rightly said, there are two ways of accessing a medical card. There are the means ground but, above and beyond those, the exceptional burden that illness and loss can place on one is also supposed to be factored in. Without knowing the details, one would hope this could be examined aga…

Please do cc me on it.

How do I know Fingal is the youngest and fastest-growing area in Ireland? It is because the Deputy keeps telling me so it must be true. I know it to be true. I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and acknowledge that she and our colleague Councillor Luke Corkery are working closely on it. It is something I genuinely care deeply about. The population of Swords is huge, bigger than that of a number of cities. It is one of the ten locations the Government has chosen with SOLAS and the education and training boards…

I thank the Deputy for raising this and for her considered contribution on it. The first thing I want to say, which the relevant Minister of State, Deputy Butler, would also want me to say, is that the independent national prescribing audit did not identify the fundamental care deficits elsewhere nationally, but that is not the point the Deputy is making. I just wanted to say that because it is important. The Deputy is making a broader point, namely that we need to review the standards more generally. That is certa…

I thank the Deputy. I say very respectfully that he will understand that I am not familiar with the details of the specific project, roundabouts or safety concerns. However, it is important that he has raised the broader issue of the need for consultation and engagement with communities, which is a fair one. It is a serious point. I hear, more than from time to time across the country, that there are many projects that the majority of residents support in the main but that have certain elements that residents have …

I will be very happy to do that.

I certainly would not want to contradict or disagree with the Taoiseach on views he has given on this project in Cork but what I will do is speak to him directly about the issue. I hope this is a matter of common sense prevailing in terms of engagement. I say this respectfully, but even the idea of mediation having to take place sounds to me like a process that did not go well in terms of proper engagement. That is based purely on what the Deputy has told me here today. I do not have the details of the project. I w…

I hope Wicklow is there too. I fully agree with the Deputy. We live in a county that is both young and fast growing. We know that through our own work not only on school capacity and the likes but also on childcare capacity. While I fully accept that childcare costs are too high, and we all have a similar view on the direction of travel that needs to take place on reducing childcare costs, one of the big issues we face in Greystones, Delgany, Bray and right across County Wicklow is access to places. I was pleased t…

I thank the Deputy for raising an issue that has not come to my attention before and for bringing it to our attention. A broader point I will make, while not taking away from the seriousness of the issue, is that people generally view a house before buying or renting it, obviously. That is not the point the Deputy is making, though. It is misleading to people, it can waste their time and so on. I ask that I be allowed give some consideration to the matter with colleagues on foot of the Deputy raising it. I take the…

This is an area I really want to get right. We have a very strong culture of saving in Ireland but not a strong culture of investment. That is not a criticism of anyone; that is just a reflection of the reality. We have €169 billion or €170 billion on deposit today in Ireland. Lots of people, despite the challenges families face, are trying to put a few bob away for their future, for a rainy day, for their kids or for whatever they are trying to do in their own lives. At the moment, not only are they not making mon…

There is indeed a commitment in the programme for Government to look at this. In that context, we will look at it, and I thank the Deputy for raising it with me. It is a fine balance and we have to consider all these things in the round, in terms of the quantum that may be available for a tax package in the budget and how we wish to deploy that while also making sure that we do not cause undue inflationary pressures on housing or the like. We need to think of all this in the round. There is the question of how the …

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I know how serious these issues are. The context in which I mentioned not being on the streets was not to suggest that people with a disability do not feel extraordinarily strongly on these issues or want to ventilate that. The point was that the consultation for the new cost-of-disability payment will open tomorrow and I want people to be in rooms and engaging in that and given the opportunity to do so. The Government is committed to developing a cost-of-disability payment…

First, in relation to the housing assistance payment and the Dublin Simon Community report that the Deputy referenced, I thank the Dublin Simon Community for the work it does. I thank it for the recognition in its commentary in relation to the tenancy protections we are putting in place in the legislation that passed in this House last night and now goes to the Seanad today. I thank it for the work it is doing, including in this capital city with the opening of its new facility this week to help people in relation …

I have told the House quite clearly what we are going to do. We brought in a higher rate of stamp duty. We increased it further. We are seeing the number fall. We brought in specific planning guidelines that are having a very significant effect. We are now seeing more homes actually being sold than bought up by institutional investors. That is a very significant change. We gave a commitment, we acted on the commitment, and we are seeing the benefit of that policy now. It is important, though, that we discuss these …

I thank Deputy Bacik very much. I take the point about having enough time in the Oireachtas to tease through things. I would also balance that point with the fact that there is a housing emergency and every day matters. Every day we do not take a decision is a day where progress is not being made at enough speed or enough pace in relation to housing supply. We have been very clear as a Government for quite a sustained period of time as to the changes we wanted to make in relation to the rental market. I do not thin…

Yes.

I did acknowledge it. I acknowledged during the election campaign and in the potential programme for Government talks after the election that the Labour Party had put forward constructive proposals. I do acknowledge that. We have a different landing zone, in that I think the Labour Party wanted a new State agency. I am not trying to misrepresent its position, but our view was to evolve the Land Development Agency. I think the Labour Party had a different proposal. I acknowledge that there was constructive engagemen…

I thank Deputy O'Callaghan for raising this very important issue. I will begin where he began by absolutely acknowledging that the priority in all of our discussions, and I know this is something we all share a view on, must be, is and must remain the children and their parents. Deputy O'Callaghan did not do so, but it is often easy to talk about reports and everything else in this House. We are talking about children and worried parents, and they should be our priority. I agree with Deputy O'Callaghan on that. I h…